Imprinting has attracted significant attention in management fields and recently in governance and public management research. This study examines how government officials’ imprints and their contextual fit shape the performance of public-private collaboration in China. We find that local governments perform better if officials-in-charge have early-life imprints or commercial imprints related to the collaborative goals and measures. Additionally, officials’ commercial imprints from private sector work experience are especially valuable in areas with a higher tax burden. Our study contributes to the literature by providing a more individualistic mechanism that unpacks the influence of multi-source imprints of government officials.
